According to this article from Insurance Journal, the Massachusetts property insurance market is seriously undercapitalized:
A major storm hitting the metropolitan Boston area would put a serious strain on the insurance system as it is now funded and have ramifications for banks and other businesses, according to Insurance Commissioner Julianne Bowler.
According to the Division of Insurance, there is about $32 billion in surplus supporting $980 million in direct written premiums in the state’s homeowners market, far less than in neighboring states. The figures are for the carriers writing 80 percent of the market. According to these calculations, every dollar of homeowners premium in Massachusetts is supported by about $33 in surplus funds. In Connecticut, the market has $86 surplus for every dollar in premium; in New Hampshire, $229; and in Rhode Island, $221.
This sheds a little more light on reports of insurers leaving the Cape Cod market. If you don’t have sufficient capital to support the risk of a catastrophe, you take your capital elsewhere to go play.